<i>Hostacom</i> Aids Award Winning VIKING 4 Series lawn mower

July 09, 2013

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, July 09, 2013 – For many people in the Northern Hemisphere summertime means yard mowing and having the right tools can make a big difference. To help homeowners maintain a lush, green lawn, LyondellBasell worked with VIKING (STIHL Group) to develop the housing for the VIKING 4 Series, a new high-end lawn mower. This is an example of how the innovation capability of LyondellBasell in polypropylene (PP) compounds enables inter-material substitution, providing solutions for the customer and leading to profitable sales growth.

The lawn mower’s housing is made from Hostacom, a LyondellBasell PP compound, instead of a conventional acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material. Hostacom provides features such as:

Good stiffness and impact resistant to withstand flying objects like little stones or sticks tossed while mowing

Chemical resistance against gasoline

Ultraviolet (UV) resistance from the sun

High gloss finish for aesthetic purposes

“LyondellBasell’s PPC helps make the VIKING 4 Series mower last longer than previous models thanks to a great resistance from impact, chemicals and heat, which are the most common cause of deterioration for lawn mowers,” says Wolfgang Simmer, marketing and sales manager for VIKING.

“LyondellBasell and VIKING have successfully developed a tailor made PP compound which combines the required mechanical properties regarding stiffness / impact balance with the high optical demands in replicating the distinctive bright green color with a high gloss surface,” says Christoph Sondern, LyondellBasell director of PPC Europe.

One of the VIKING 4 Series mowers – the model MB 448 TC - recently received the international Universal Design Award 2013 at the Munich Creative Business Week in Munich, Germany. This annual award is the only one of its kind to have both top design experts and a 100-member consumer panel determine the winner. The evaluation criteria included simple and intuitive operation, safety, degree of innovation, sustainability and environmental friendliness.

LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB) is one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies and a member of the S&P 500 Index. LyondellBasell (www.lyondellbasell.com) manufactures products at 58 sites in 18 countries. LyondellBasell products and technologies are used to make items that improve the quality of life for people around the world including packaging, electronics, automotive parts, home furnishings, construction materials and biofuels.